Chapter 49

CHAPTER FORTY-NINE

Ellery

Despite the large amount of power we'd released, the electricity swelling between us continued to encompass me. I could taste the tang of lightning on my tongue as it crackled around me.

It rose and fell in my body in a way I'd never experienced before while it continued to seek out Ryker. He drew more lightning out of me. It was everywhere and ours for the taking.

I did the same for him; I could sense it through our connection as lightning flashed across the sky but didn't hit the earth again. Our hearts fell into a rhythm together; I felt it with every pulse of mine and the answering rhythm in his fingers.

I'd never experienced anything like this before, and I would never experience it with anyone else. This wasn't because he was also a lightning bearer; it was because he was a piece of me.

No matter what had passed between us, I still loved him. I always would, and I could never deny our physical connection.

I felt him in my cells, the blood pumping through my veins, and the essence of my soul. He vibrated there, a subtle presence forever reminding me that he belonged there… and always would.

When the light faded, none of the strange creatures remained; some of the trees had been devastated, and debris littered the ground. Smoke streamed from the remains of the monsters, the tops of the trees, and some of the trunks. It choked the air and burned my eyes as it drifted around us, but the trees had shaken the fires on them out, and the flames had already consumed the debris on the ground, leaving nothing more for them to devour.

Most of the trees remained standing, their boughs no longer entwined, but they didn't attack again, and nothing crawled from the earth. I shuddered as I recalled the way they'd come at me and the way those stringy roots had caressed my flesh.

What would have happened if they succeeded in dragging me into the earth? I couldn't think about it.

I'd been against damaging these trees, yet the second they turned on us, I helped devastate them. They'd been beautiful and strong, and now they were as broken as me.

Ryker and I had done all this in a matter of seconds. With the threat destroyed, my breath came faster as I became increasingly aware of the strength of Ryker's hand in mine.

I'd almost forgotten how right and perfect his fingers felt when they entwined with mine. Despite immortals healing fast, callouses marred his palms from the centuries of fighting and training he'd endured to become a general, the Scourge of the Ghouls, and, soon, a thief.

His solid presence caused the hair on my arms to stand up as our power remained restrained but linked in that strange way. Everything in me yearned to connect with him further, to touch him, and to know him like I did before.

I knew every inch of his body as if it were my own. I'd traced the hundreds of scars marking his flesh; I'd kissed them to ease the emotional anguish that lingered from all he'd endured at the hands of his father, in battles, and while being tortured by the ophidians.

I'd savored the saltiness of his skin and knew the amazing strength of his arms around me. It was easy to recall the sensation of his hands gliding down my back to cup my ass while he moved within me, the sounds he emitted, and the pulse of his cock as he came.

Caught up in the memories, my skin prickled with awareness for more than the lightning flowing between us. I should remove my hand from his, walk away, and distance myself until I could regain control, but I couldn't move.

As badly as I needed space, I needed him more.

Overhead, tree branches creaked as the remaining ones reached for each other again. Their movements caused a jolt of adrenaline to skyrocket my heart.

The limbs twisted around each other as they formed another canopy. This one wasn't as thick, as lightning had torn holes through it.

We had to get out of here and away from these things before we ended up a tasty treat beneath the earth. Ryker must have thought the same things, as he waved his hand to open a portal before us.

He pulled me forward as he stalked into it and emerged in a different section of the woods. I expected him to release my hand, but he didn't, and I wasn't ready to let go of him either.

When we arrived on the other side, I realized we were near where we'd been when the curse happened. Shadows enshrouded most of the trees, but I knew these wouldn't attack us.

Creatures sang their chirpy songs as they called to each other. Nothing perilous was nearby; if there was, silence would reign in the woods.

When Ryker turned to me, I looked up into a face shadowed with stubble along his strong jaw and eyes as black as night while lightning bolts arced through them. While I could still feel the power swelling between us, he remained more out of control than I did.

Seeing him like this caused my mouth to go dry as desire rushed through me. He was out of control and near savage with it, and I was eager to experience that with him.

The power swelled between our joined hands as sparks fired to life again. The white-blue light we created danced in his black eyes and across his face.

He was magnificent, and at one time, he was mine. Tall and broad, he was one of the biggest men I'd ever met, and I thrilled at his strength as my heart raced in rhythm with his and my belly clenched.

Everything in me screamed for him, the power he emanated and the ecstasy he could bring. I craved him more than the air I breathed and knew he could satisfy me so much more.

I'd torn us apart, but he was a part of me, and I believed I was a part of him. When he stepped closer, the light swelled around us.

Unable to resist his pull, I swayed toward him as his free hand settled on my waist. My breath hitched at the sensation of being further connected to him.

When he drew me toward him, I could no more resist him than the sun could resist rising every morning and setting every night. Lightning danced across my fingertips as I settled my hands on his chest and slid them higher.

My head tried to tell me something, but I didn't care what it had to say. All I cared about was finally being in his arms again.

When he kissed me, I knew I was doomed, and I was more than happy to race toward my demise.